222 GRAPES. 



Pruning and Training. 



Several methods have been recommended by authors 

 for the pruning and management of vines, each of which 

 is supposed to possess some particular merit ; and as the 

 ultimate object, in all cases, must be supposed to be that 

 of a large crop of good fruit, it is material to consider 

 how and by what means this is to be obtained, and also 

 what description of crop when it is obtained, whether 

 that of a large number of bunches, or a number of large 

 bunches, the weight of the whole being the same. 



I have myself ever been an advocate for large fruit, 

 or the largest size to which any particular fruit usually 

 attains, being fully satisfied that the value of fruit is 

 more to be estimated by its individual bulk or weight, 

 than by the number of its individuals composing that 

 weight. I may illustrate this by taking, for example, 

 any variety of either grape or other fruit ; but, as we 

 are now considering the former, let the Muscat of Alex- 

 andria, Black Hamburgh, or indeed any other sort, be 

 selected, and compare fifty single berries of the largest 

 size, with an hundred others of the same aggregate weight, 

 equally in a state of maturity : the preponderance in the 

 scale of merit will be given, I apprehend, by all com- 

 petent judges, to the fifty instead of the hundred. If, 

 then, we are to consider the maximum of merit to con- 

 sist in the obtaining of superior fruit, this accomplished 

 the gardener will have no difficulty in possessing him- 

 self of those of a lower grade in the scale, as that will 

 be regulated by his own application of the means within 

 his reach. 



The attainment, then, of fine grapes can only be ac- 

 complished by having the vine in a vigorous and flourish- 

 ing state. In the hothouse or in the vinery, as soon 

 as the vines are planted out, one good shoot must be 



